Family

Today was Family Day at St. John's. My mother and niece were fortunate enough to be able to join me in celebrating this event. It was really nice to see all the loved ones of the students and the proud faces on the parent's faces knowing that their children are excelling in their educations and being involved with the St. John's community. My mom was especially proud to see me sing in the choir.
It's days like today that make you realize how important your family is and how lucky we are to have them around. People came from all over just to show us that they cared. My family is the most important thing to me because without them, I wouldn't be who I am today.

Experience

Experience guides us through life. Without experience with certain things, we can't form our opinions on them. You can not say that you don't like seafood if you have never tried it. This type of reasoning is obvious to unexperienced adolescents. Alcohol, drugs, and promescuity are all things that they know are wrong beacause that is what they are taught. But they must always try things for themselves to form their own opinions. This is when they get into trouble. I know understand the struggle and hardship that it takes to be a parent of a teens because I am now the aunt of one. My neice has just entered her first year in highschool, and my mind goes crazy everytime she tells me that she plans to go out on a Friday or Saturday night beacuse I know what is out there. I know because I have been through all the peer pressure and experimenting that teenage social events have to offer.
My neice would never think to take my advice on something if her friends have told her otherwise because of the age that she has reached. Peers have more influence on young people's lives than their parents and other respectable elders do at the adolescent age. I don't blame her because I was the same way a couple of years ago. But I have learned through my own "experience" what is right from what is wrong. You won't truely believe in something until you have actually gone through it yourself.

T.I.

Rapper T.I was arrested on Saturday just hours before his scheduled performance on the BET Hip Hop awards. He now faces ten years for trying to have his bodygaurd purchase firearms for him while being a convicted felon. He attempted to buy three machine guns and two silencers. The man who was supposed to sell him the goods was cooperating with the police. After a search of his house in Atlanta, Georgia they also found a walk in safe that required fingerprints to get in filled with weapons.
This is very disappointing to fans like me who would have never thought that half the topics he rapped about could have been true. Hopefully he will not be charged for this mishap and he will be able to continue his career, but I doubt it. By the time he comes out of prison, he will be 37 years old and probably looking to retire rather than start from scratch again after so much time.
This is also disappointing to me because I have younger cousins and friends who listen to T.I and now will get the wrong impression of rappers. You try to teach them not to do bad things, but then you have their idols getting arrested left and right. They think it is the only way to go now-a-days to make money. Sell drugs, rap, or play ball is the only life they know in the majority of the black community and its sad.

Crunch Time

And it's a field goal!!! Pure joy and excitement came over me when the oblong, brown ball went through the tall yellow posts. No one can explain the sheer happiness I felt. Jumping, skipping, clapping, screaming, laughing, not even crying could express my feelings.

My favorite sport to watch on television is football. I am a devoted Cowboys fan. They have their ups and downs but so far this season, they are undefeated. Tonight's game was close and Tony Romo threw five intercepted balls! The Bills were in the lead the whole entire game but just when everyone thought it was over for Dallas, they came through. Buffalo tried to call a time out right before the last kick, but they did it again with ease to win the game. I'm glad they didn't give up even though everyone was losing hope. The Bills even thought they won with only 20 seconds on the clock and began to celebrate, but fate had a different plan. It's always possible to achieve something no matter what the odds are. The cowboys always give me inspiration with their unique tactics and determined players and thats why their my favorite team in the NFL.

Man Power

According to this article, "On Saturday, British adventurer Jason Lewis finally came home, completing a 13-year, 46,000-mile human-powered circumnavigation of the globe. " He used inline skates, a kayak, a bicycle, and a pedal boat. There were many obsticles such as huge waves, winds, a car accident, a whale, crocodiles, imprisonment for being a "spy" and many other challenges. The trip was only expected to take three and a half years but numerous setbacks occured. Jason took breaks for weeks at a time and had 9 months in the hospital when he got hit by a car on his bike and broke both his legs.
There are many things that people set out to do but never accomplish. When you hear about those like Mr. Lewis, you are inspired and motivated to go after your dreams no matter how big becuase there are always people achieving the impossible.

Do You Remember?

According to Wikipedia.com, "memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and subsequently retrieve information." Memory can be sparked by any of your five senses. If someone says something to you that reminds you of an event that occured, you will begin to reminisce. The same will take place if you see, smell, taste, or touch something with significance to the occasion. Humans store a lot of information in their brains. Everything that happens to us and that we learn are retained in our head. It depends on how often we go back to this information to decide how well we will remember it. If something major has happened to you, such as a car accident, it will go into your long term memory base. Everytime you go in a car, drive past that spot or someone brings up a related incident, you will be reminded of your tragedy. If you've lost a loved one, various things will stimulate the memory of them frequently.
We use our memory for many things in life. Work, and school are places where it is crucial to get ahead but we also use it without even thinking about. Life thrives on memory and without it we would be nowhere.